Joliet Area Community Hospice (JACH) will be celebrating and honoring Vietnam Era Veterans at their inaugural Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day Celebration to take place at American Legion Post 18, 15052 Archer Ave., Lockport, on Saturday evening, March 21, 2020.

Vietnam Veterans who may never have been appropriately welcomed home – who were never applauded and thanked for their service and sacrifice – will be celebrated and honored.

All Vietnam Era Veterans and their families are invited for this evening of dinner, speakers, live music, exciting raffles, and fun activities. Pre-registration is required by contacting Kristen Kolwelter at 815-740-4104.

JACH has been honored to care for thousands of veterans since our doors were opened in 1982. JACH now enhances that care with the Joliet Area Community Hospice We Honor Veterans Program. This comprehensive program focuses on respectfully celebrating veterans and providing care that recognizes the unique challenges that may exist in military families. JACH is committed to providing care for those who served with pride, honoring their lives and service to country, and offering the dignity they so richly deserve.

Sponsorships for the inaugural Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day Celebration are available at joliethospice.org under the Events tab or by calling 815.740.4104.

Hakuna Matata! “No worries for the rest of your days,” state the lyrics from a song featured in Disney’s “The Lion King.” That is the goal of Joliet Area Community Hospice (JACH) – to allow our hospice patients to be comfortable and worry-free for the rest of their days. Now serving eight Illinois Counties: Will, Grundy, Kendall, Livingston, LaSalle, and parts of Kankakee, Cook and DuPage, JACH provides quality hospice and palliative care to terminally ill adults and children without regard to the family’s ability to pay. and grief support services free of charge to anyone in the community who has lost a loved one and needs help coping with the loss

Joliet Area Community Hospice is hosting the Annual Dinner Fundraiser, Safari Sunset A Journey of Life on Monday, April 20 beginning at 5:00 p.m. at Bolingbrook Golf Club, 2001 Rodeo Dr., Bolingbrook, IL. The public is invited to the dinner, presented by Signature Sponsors: Busey Bank, The Horton Group and Daley’s Ambulance Services. Tickets are $75 per guest, with tables of 10 available. Dinner, cash bar, raffles, auction and other fun activities will fill the evening. Animal print attire is encouraged but not required. All proceeds benefit the important programs of Joliet Area Community Hospice including grief support services free of charge to anyone in the community who has lost a loved one and needs help coping with the loss

JACH will honor this year’s Heart of Hospice Award recipients, Carolyn Dystrup for her unwavering support, love and advocacy for JACH. Carolyn served as president of the JACH board and supports many of the annual fundraising events as a participant and sponsor. And the Eastside Association for years of consistent support of the JACH mission through their friendship and fundraising on our behalf. Each year, the group hosts an event that benefits JACH.

It may not be new to any reader that the United States population is aging. The aging of baby boomers is giving rise to the “graying of America”, with people age 65 and older expected to nearly double from where it is today to 95 million by 2060. It may also not be surprising that the occurrence of dementia in individuals increases with age, however you may not be aware that the prevalence of dementia with age increases exponentially between the ages of 65 and 90, with dementia incidence doubling every 5 years from 65 to 90 years old.

Anticipating the significantly increased number of older adults with dementia who will require specialized care by family and healthcare professionals, the State of Illinois passed the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Services Code, effective May, 2019. This regulation requires health care agencies, facilities and hospices to have a trained Alzheimer’s Services Supervisor who is responsible for the oversight of programs relating to these conditions and to provide significant training to new and existing staff on them as well.

Joliet Area Community Hospice (JACH) has responded to this new law, with Certified Dementia Practitioner Bonnie Leto, LSW as JACH’s new Alzheimer’s Services Supervisor. A six-hour training for new employees and annual three-hour trainings for current employees began this summer. JACH training curriculum covers understanding dementia, effective communication with individuals with dementia, assisting people with dementia in performing their activities of daily living, problem solving with individuals with dementia who exhibit challenging behaviors, and fundamentals of dementia care, safe environments, and managing the activities of individuals with dementia.

At JACH, Alzheimer’s Disease/advanced dementia is one of the top four diagnoses of the adults cared for in its hospice program. Hospice staff trained in this new curriculum will be able to more expertly care for patients with dementia, and will continue to be a valuable resource to family members and caregivers on how to best care for their loved one.

To learn more, please contact Joliet Area Community Hospice, the community’s choice for quality hospice, palliative care and grief support services and a proud United Way agency at 815-740-4104.

The Caesars Foundation awarded Joliet Area Community Hospice (JACH) with a $10,000 grant towards the agency’s current Remembering from the Heart Campaign for the Hospice Home for the addition and renovation of the hospice home inpatient unit. Randy Conroy, Senior Vice President & General Manager of Harrah’s Joliet Casino and Hotel and other members of his team presented a $10,000 check from the Caesars Foundation to JACH Chief Executive Officer Mary K. Sheehan and Chief Operating Officer Cindy Brassea. After the check presentation, the Harrah’s executives toured the existing inpatient unit and learned more about all the improvements and changes to come.

JACH has a longstanding relationship with Harrah’s and Caesars. Harrah’s/Caesars Foundation is responsible for JACH’s paved labyrinth walk and garden that provides a lovely place of solitude and reflection for families and visitors; Harrah’s Joliet Casino and Hotel has been a consistent supporter of the agency’s annual dinner and golf outing; and casino staff have volunteered at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service event. Their recent generosity will provide a patio outside of a patient room allowing patient access to fresh air and beautiful scenery, even if confined to a bed.

Joliet Area Community Hospice changed the face of inpatient hospice care when it opened the first free standing hospice home inpatient unit in Illinois in 2004. Now fifteen years later, JACH is embarking on a capital campaign to add a twelve-room addition to the Hospice Home and renovate and enhance the existing structure.

The $3.5 million Remembering from the Heart Campaign for the Hospice Home will take advantage of recent state legislation passed in 2018 increasing the maximum hospice inpatient unit size to 20 beds, by adding four patient rooms; adding a multi-family kitchen and dining area; adding a larger commercial kitchen and larger spiritual space; renovating the existing patient rooms to add a refrigerator, sink, all new furniture and fixtures and French doors leading to private outside patios; and relocating nursing staff adjacent to patient rooms.

Construction of this capital project is scheduled to begin August 2019 and be completed fall of 2020.

Joliet Area Community Hospice’s (JACH) Senior Director of Development and Communications, Jackie Bersano, has announced her retirement at the end of this year. During her six-year tenure with JACH, Bersano has passionately represented the organization at countless fundraising and networking functions in the community, has brought in new supporters to JACH’s numerous fundraising and friend-raising events that she has planned and directed (e.g. JACH Annual Dinner, 5K Family Fun Run/Walk, Timmy’s Garden Walk, and Golf Outing), and most recently has spearheaded a $3.5 million Remembering from the Heart Capital Campaign for the addition and renovation of the JACH Hospice Home inpatient unit.

Bersano’s support of the long-standing Hospice Guild for their Puttin’ on the Glitz Fashion Show and Ladies’ Card Party has been irreplaceable. Behind the scenes, Jackie writes and edits much of what is seen by the public as ‘Joliet Area Community Hospice’: in newspaper ads, articles, social media, brochures, appeals and flyers. Earlier in her time with the agency, she had overseen the Volunteer Department at JACH and is a trained volunteer herself, often working in the gardens surrounding the office and inpatient unit as the seasons change.

“Jackie has played a key role in our organization’s growth and her support of our patient-centered culture has been invaluable,” said Mary Sheehan, CEO of Joliet Area Community Hospice. “As a new member of the Joliet community when I joined JACH, it’s been Jackie who has guided me through what I need to know, what groups I need to join, and has made important introductions – all in order for our agency to be successful.”

Jackie’s devotion to Joliet Area Community Hospice is evident in the long hours worked without complaint, in the education and JACH history freely shared with new staff and volunteers, and in her sunny disposition toward all who come into contact with her. JACH is losing a valued member of the team with Jackie’s retirement and she will be truly missed. Everyone at JACH wishes her a wonderful retirement and adventure-filled days ahead.